Motivation

Foreword

The idea of an Association of Indian Culture was born from the desire of a certain number of Guadeloupeans to satisfy the cultural thirst and also to fill a void in the field of associative life.

We believe that better integration into the society in which we live requires the affirmation of our cultural identity.

We also believe that it is our duty to make known our precious cultural heritage through the most varied forms.

Finally, we thought that the time had come to create an Association which would also be a place of meetings and discussions for the actions to be carried out within the framework of the development, promotion and safeguarding of Indian culture in our country.

An Association open to a very large public, regardless of their origins, political or religious opinions who are interested in one way or another in Indian culture.

We believe that wars and feelings of hatred between peoples, which have always been the scourge of humanity since time immemorial, can only fade through mutual knowledge.

In the century of telematics, it would be aberrant to ignore one's neighbour. This is why we want, in our modest way, to contribute to understanding and friendship between peoples.

Creation of the Association

The Indian immigrant recruited in several regions of India, upon his arrival in Guadeloupe, was distributed in the sugar cane regions, and found himself confronted with very difficult living conditions due to his religion, his customs, his language. , notably. It was necessary to follow the religion of the master, Catholicism, since unlike the English-speaking islands, the French colonies refuse the principle of community identities, putting into practice the process of assimilation which results in:

- One People

- Only one language

This did not make it easy to adapt to this new society.

One example among many others:

A warning (a century after the arrival of the Indians in the country) against the Indian religion was published in the written press (Journal Clarté), on April 5, 1952 and recalled on February 22, 1958, prohibiting Indians from gathering to talk about their religion, which is called7 witchcraft.

Text of the warning Click here

From 1854, Guadeloupe, a land of welcome for the Indians, was already evolving into a multiracial, multicultural society.

Guadeloupean Culture is developing over the days in different aspects in the four corners of the country; but an (Indian) facet is misunderstood, forgotten if not concealed, since the Indo-Guadeloupeans commonly called " the Indians" are not yet well accepted.

For several decades, the Indian could only honor his Gods and submit to the practices specific to his culture discreetly, and there comes a time when a need is clearly felt to live a little more intensely the Indian part of Guadeloupe's cultural heritage.

Friends of India

Thus in 1968, certain good wills met in Capesterre Belle-Eau with the idea of Association, but unfortunately the participants parted back to back: the various analyzes being too divergent.

In 1970, almost the same people met again in Moule and the discussion turned towards the possibility of creating a mutual insurance company. This idea will not achieve its goal.

After these fruitless attempts, always this same group, ideologically heterogeneous, does not break up, perseveres with the help of certain Indians of India, and particularly of a Pondicherry (in Guadeloupe to prepare his doctorate of 3rd cycle: Mr SINGARAVELOU ). This group organizes this meeting of April 1971, during which Mr. SINGARAVELOU, in a conference debate, approached the history of the Indian Colony in Guadeloupe.

This meeting which moved the large crowd can be described as historic. Indeed, this organizing group, motivated more than ever at the end of this meeting, continued its momentum and it was the Constitutive General Assembly of April 25, 1971.

Thus the AGAI (Guadeloupian Association of Friends of India) was born with objectives: click here)

The administrative formalities are completed and the Association has been declared to the Prefecture under number 397, declaration inserted in the Official Journal of May 7, 1971.

If a big step was taken on the legal level, everything remained to be done to make the Association functional.

How to get there ? A Board of Directors made up of 12 neophytes was elected to animate an Association unlike any other, especially when public rumor was already speaking of the mobilization of Indians, of transposition in India, even of the creation of a third force on the politico- racial, in short, everything needed to discredit the Association and discourage our 12 neophytes.

However, this Board of Directors set to work by organizing a certain number of conferences, meetings etc. …of an essentially cultural nature, wanting against all odds to make the Association work.

But alas, this inexperienced Board of Directors, not always having sufficient availability, could not overcome the difficulties and the Association sometimes flopped.

This situation was getting worse, the ideological problem was posed again and an Extraordinary General Assembly, with a view to modifying the statutes when the objectives of the Association proved to be ineffective. 16 members out of around 100 were present the quorum was not reached, the Assembly could not validly deliberate.

From then on the meetings were no longer held or when they were held, absenteeism predominated, in short, it was a rout.

This situation lasted from June 16, 1974 to December 14, 1980, the date on which, under the impetus of external elements, the Association brought together the Friends of India in a General Assembly, members or not of the Association.

From this Assembly emerged a common will: to resume activities. A Board of Directors of 9 members was put in place.

Its mission:

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b) Organize as soon as possible an Extraordinary General Assembly for minutes and establishment of the final Board of Directors.

This General Assembly took place on April 15, 1981. The statutes were somewhat modified, as well as the title of the Association. The Guadeloupe Association of Friends of India has now become:

“Guadeloupian Cultural Association of Friends of India”.

The 12-member Board of Directors put in place demonstrated its desire to breathe new life into the Association both outside and within the Board of Directors.

The activities resumed and the ACGAI resurfacing in a beautiful way slowly but surely carried out its program of activities.

Admittedly, it has sometimes been confronted with certain social problems from which no organization or institution escapes.

However, we can say that she works permanently for Indian culture in Guadeloupe and in the Caribbean basin.

The Association has a very significant representativeness in Guadeloupean society and elsewhere. It plays the role of unifier, hence its name.

"A Friend of India" is any person, any individual or religious, who is interested in one way or another, directly or indirectly, in Indian culture.

It is not a gathering of Indians, it is not to put oneself on the margins of society, it is not a way of standing apart, it is not sectarianism, well On the contrary, this Association is open to anyone who is interested in Indian culture. This is the real gathering, and it is together_cc781905-5cde -3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ that we can get things done. And so it is, among other things:

- That the Association attracts supporters from all walks of life during its events

-That the Association is regularly solicited from all sides by legal and natural persons, Communities, Administrations, to present aspects of Indian culture in Guadeloupe

This simply means that there is a real consideration of Indian culture in Guadeloupe's cultural heritage.

And it is no coincidence that it is considered by public opinion both inside and outside as a “antenna_cc781905-5cde -3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ of reference” in the field of Indianness.